I was reminded today of one of my pet hates regarding the misuse of the English language. I know I'm quite a pedant and I myself am far from perfect, but it gets my goat that people just can't be bothered to speak correctly.
The offence du jour? Use of the word 'really' instead of the word 'very'. 'Really' and 'very' do not mean the same thing and they are not interchangeable. "How was your trip to Melbourne?" "Great, but it was really cold." No! It was very cold. Say what you really mean (not what you very mean).
Speaking of 'very', it is also being increasingly omitted from 'thank you very much' and being ludicrously replaced by 'so'. The phrase 'so much' requires a 'that' followed by a descriptive statement. "I love you so much that I just had to buy you these flowers." "Thank you so much" is trendy, but completely meaningless.
There is nothing wrong with the word 'very'. If you mean 'very' then say 'very'.
Thank you really much.
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The sound of one hand waving
- MartyBanana
- I live in the outback and spout whatever I'm thinking at the time.
10 comments:
A couple of my pet peeves are:
"I seen that." I suspect this one doesn't happen down under.
- orientated instead of oriented: this is more common in England, I think, so maybe in Australia too? I don't like it.
- I have went there. Eeek.
- Karen
Also disorientated instead of disoriented.
If you spin a Chinese person round and round, do they become disoriented?
Oh you SO would hate me. I really interchange these words a very very lot. Seriously. I'm sorry.
the worst part is I have a degree in english and spent a year teaching america's young minds to do the same thing.
GASP!
Can I post here?
I don't know? Can you?
May I post here?
;)
Marty,
Its lucky your not living in Ireland, every thing is "amazing"... Every second adjective in Ireland today is "Amazing" especially the posh birds with the "friends" accents.
But I wonder if it is possible for a handbag(or whatever) to actually strike somebody with amazement??
What amazes me is my typos...
I'm really sorry =p
Hehe - two for the price of one!
Hey Martin,
Tried to send you an email about a house I saw for you guys...did you get the email?? 6 bdrms in Aberfoyle Park! CHEAP!! Send me your email address if you didn't, I may have a very old one! We haven't changed ours so you should have it.
What's up with your blog...sorry to see that after nearly a month you are still Really so very annoyed
Love Jo
uh, Marty, your clock advertisement reads: 'Super Loud Alarm Clocks, with bed vibration technology, July 4th sale....'
This is an overt attempt to sell to Americans, I just know it! ;)
Well, you know, both Blogger and Google are American companies. In fact I think they are the same American company, so they probably don't acknowledge that there are other places in the world.
I don't have any control over the content of the ads - Google just tries to match them with the text in the blogg.
Hi Marty,
well, I was just jokin'...yes, it's dangerous to blog and drink beer at the same time! ;)
please disregard silly comment about silly advertisement!
btw, I do know some people that are that 'geo-centric' :/ ...is that even a word? :)
HGF
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